Improving National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System
Challenge
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Children’s Bureau needed to collect and maintain child protective services data through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and make it available for policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders. With states having unique child protective services policies, requirements, and procedures, NCANDS faced the challenge of standardizing data for reliable national comparison.
Solution
In 1988, our subsidiary WRMA developed NCANDS, the nation’s primary source of child maltreatment statistics. We created a standardized mapping procedure to help states extract data from their child welfare system into the NCANDS format. The NCANDS fields have broader definitions that enable a range of state fields and definitions to be included. For example, a state may have separate fields for educational neglect, threat of neglect, and abandonment, and these would all map to the single NCANDS category of neglect, enabling a national analysis.
The NCANDS data is a critical source of information for many publications, reports, and activities of the federal government, child welfare personnel, researchers, and others.
Media and Communications for NCANDS
From communications plans to branding, explore the resources and materials we’ve developed for NCANDS.
Collected case-level data
From all states beginning in FFY 2012
Collected fatality data
From all states in FFY 2020-2024
60+
Data tables and exhibits included in the Child Maltreatment Report
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Technical Assistance
Because NCANDS is voluntary, competing federal data submissions and limited state resources can delay submissions and system updates. Our NCANDS team provides technical assistance (TA) year-round to support states. We update a comprehensive data quality report after each data collection cycle to guide the development of TA plans and agendas for annual TA calls.
Data Collection and Validation
The NCANDS team built a robust cloud-based NCANDS Data Warehouse that manages data from state submission through analyst review. States use the system to submit data, NCANDS analysts use it to review data quality, and the Children’s Bureau uses it to view and download accepted state submissions. The system features user-friendly forms and includes over 65 million records from 2002 onward.
Security
We have maintained an Authority to Operate (ATO) since 2015, including subsequent successful renewals. The NCANDS team received high praise from the Security Assessment team after passing the assessment, being recognized as the most prepared system ever evaluated.
Data in Research and Initiatives
The Children’s Bureau established the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) to encourage scholars to use existing child maltreatment data in their research. NDACAN houses the NCANDS’s Child Files and Agency Files and licenses researchers to use the data sets. NCANDS data is also provided to other agencies for federal initiatives, including Healthy People and America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being.
Data in Federal Reporting
The Child Welfare Outcomes: Report to Congress is an annual report on state and national performance across seven outcome areas. The Children’s Bureau conducts Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) to assess child welfare systems and support positive outcomes for children and families. For CFSR Round 4, NCANDS data informs national indicators, data quality checks, and context measures. NCANDS data also supports performance measures included in the ACF Annual Budget Request to Congress.
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Relevant Resources
Explore tools and materials our team developed on behalf of this project.
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